Saturday, December 6, 2008

Sprint Cup Series Banquet Not Exactly Live On ESPN Classic

The bright red and white logo in the upper right-hand corner of the ESPN Classic TV Network screen said "live."

Yet, those NASCAR fans listening to the Sprint Cup Series banquet on Sirius Satellite Radio or MRN were hearing something different. For some strange reason, the TV and the radio broadcasts did not match.

On the radio, the speeches were already being made while the ESPN Classic TV viewers were just getting the start of the banquet TV show. While the "live" graphic remained in the entire broadcast, this ESPN program was actually not live at all.

It seems somewhat ironic that to close-out the season ESPN would simply choose to try and deceive the NASCAR fans once again. What else can be said about some of the management decisions of that company this season when it comes to NASCAR?

Dr. Jerry Punch presided over a dreary affair that never got a spark from the speeches, the comedian or the host. In a way, the 2008 Sprint Cup Series banquet reflected the economic reality of what is happening around the world.

As usual, the NASCAR Media Group did "glossy" very well. Features, footage and photographs combined for a clean presentation on-the-air. Unfortunately, the TV Director chose to cut-away endlessly during the driver speeches to all kinds of different shots.

Since each speech was scripted, the camera cuts reflected almost a soap opera feel where everything was cut right on the word and suddenly the person being mentioned was front-and-center. While it was accurate and made for good corporate TV, it did not provide a whole lot of entertainment. The Director also loved to zoom the camera from wide to tight while the drivers were actually in the middle of their speeches.

Punch handled the hosting duties without a problem, but was not released from his scripted cage and was a non-factor. That was a shame, because the real skill of Punch is his ability to ask the right questions and get good conversation rolling. Needless to say, that did not happen.

2007 was the first season of The Daly Planet and readers made themselves quite clear that the distinctive female voice who provided the live narration for the Cup banquet was perhaps not the best choice. Needless to say, she returned for 2008 with even more misplaced gusto and strange inflections.

Update-2: Click here for the video of Tia Texada, the actress who also does voice-over work and was the announcer for the banquet. Thanks to a TDP reader for the info.

Speaking of strange, Tom Cruise was seen on-camera several times during the evening but due to the scripted nature of the evening his presence was never explained. "Days of Thunder" was a long time ago.

On ESPN Classic, comedian John Pinette was in the middle of his second performance. It was 10:55PM on the East Coast. The big red logo in the corner of the ESPN Classic screen still said "live."

Meanwhile, in the real world Jimmie Johnson had already finished his victory speech and the live radio broadcast was getting ready to sign-off at 11PM.

How and why ESPN contrived to label this national TV broadcast as live when it was not is anyone's guess. In today's TV world, buzzwords like "time shifted" are all the rage for TV's ability to put content on a big hard-drive and play it back instantly in any order.

Unfortunately, ESPN also listed this telecast as live in the nationwide print and Internet publications. It must have been an interesting experience for the NASCAR and ESPN executives to retire to the Waldorf-Astoria bar only to find themselves "live" on ESPN Classic and just halfway through the evening. One quick phone call to Bristol, CT might have solved the problem.

Matchbox Twenty worked hard and came away much better than poor Kelly Clarkson, the 2007 musical guest. The group clearly enjoys the sport and seemed to really put their heart into some good music. For those of us familiar with the TV world, having them sing live was a nice bonus.

As the speeches went by, only Jeff Burton really stood-out for his ability to capture the attention of the TV viewers with his content and not simply his humor. Burton hit on the key points many Americans are very concerned about these days and his speech almost seemed to be that of an experienced politician.

While Rick Hendrick delivered the best one-liner of the night, Jimmie Johnson came away as a smooth and confident champion. Cale Yarborough was a nice surprise and one of only two non-Teleprompter moments of the evening.

Brian France was once again disjointed. Even in introducing his special guest, he began by saying his presence on stage signaled that the event was almost over. It certainly was inappropriate where Johnson, the new three-time champion, was concerned.

As we said last season, the banquet is primarily intended for the sponsors of the sport. It has been televised for many years but has really never found its "TV legs." Perhaps, in the future it may be post-produced and take on the talk show style that has been a success for both the Truck and Nationwide functions.

NASCAR walked away with a safe TV night that did not step out-of-bounds or feature any real memorable moments. With no January testing telecasts it will be more than two months before the Sprint Cup Series steps back into the TV spotlight. If you watched the telecast, please take a moment and share your thoughts with us.

Update-1: Yes, ESPN did carry the Nationwide Series banquet telecast. Click here to read that story about Allen Bestwick and Shannon Spake hosting the event.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Just click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instructions. The rules for posting are located on the right side of the main page.

40 comments:

The fact that they had the wrong number up for Bowyer was sad. These things are pre-made and are not that hard to put together.

As for Costner, if he did misread the prompter, thats ok, but it still showed his lack of knowledge of the sport to not correct himself. You wouldn't find someone misspeaking one of Babe Ruth's nicknames without being hounded by others.

Sadly, ESPN made the choice to tape-delay the Banquet and edit the pre-dinner and post-dinner segments without any disclosure, knowing full well that other media entities were also broadcasting from the same event. The "live" logo ought not have been displayed if indeed the broadcast was not, in fact, happening as it was being seen. David Poole today has said the same thing.It's sad to see the diminishing credibility of ESPN, especially when they keep doing it to themselves...Thanks again!

What exactly happened to the NW banquet that was supposed to be shown after the Truck banquet? I was checking your schedule on the right side of the home page and can't believe I missed it. Incidentally, when clicking on the AB and Spake video, I get nothing.

Since I live in the Mountain Time zone, I'm used to getting 'live' stuff on tape, but I was surprised that BSPN (love that!) would do that to east coast viewers also. One more reason to hate BSPN...not like I really needed another one.

Well, I would restate my comments as I can't remember what the hello I said! :-)

...or did I even post a comment yet? (Don't laugh some of you, you will have a Swiss Cheese mind someday)

Hmm. ...Oh, I must say though some took it with a grain of salt, I found it a disgrace that Costner called Dale Sr, the 'Terminator'....THIS is where somebody on the sidelines should've CORRECTED him or shouted in his ear, after all he spoke with the drama of Dale's death...should've gotten ALL the details CORRECT...he did a horrible reading of the prompter..and if he needed glasses, should've let his vanity step aside for being a better speaker...and if Costner has too much stage fright and lack of humor to correct himself, he had no business being there.

The end was my favorite part with Cale there looking tanned and spry.

Rick H got the biggest laugh of the night with his Kyle B sometimes acts like he's 18 !!?? I did not know which was funnier, the line or seeing Jeff Gordon laughing so hard at the comment. :-) BUt have to say, Kyle B seemed to take it well.

Everybody there looked great!!

Oh, the camera work was just like the camera work for the stations races....STANK. P U.

BSPN TRULY is starting to remind me of Scientology with only what they say GOES and is gospel/attitude..and those of us that disagree are ignored or shunned. Think about it..they NEVER admit to doing/saying/reporting somebody that was wrong??

The big red instrusive "LIVE" logo was a farce as was mentioned. I hope the Truck awards is more fun.

:)

P.S. And I am glad Tia Texada (fake name) has a real voice....so now my question is Who at NASCAR thinks it's a good idea to have her SPEAK LIKE THAT with that horrible affectation? That' what I want to know?????

xoxo to JD for keeping this blog going for us all. I LOVED yakking with everybody last night. I had almost forgotten how fun this place could be.

I don't think Jeff Gordon needed to give anyone an explanation why he had Tom Cruise as a guest at his table. As most fans know, Jeff is a part-time NYC resident. He lives in the same building as Denzel Washington,Sting, Bob Costas, A-Rod, Norman Lear, etc. (not insinuating he's pals with all these people, just he's in a different circle than the average driver.) Tom may just be a pal.

There's a real posibility that no one was notified of Tom's attendace ahead of time, and he may not have wanted to take lime-light away from the festivities.

Of course I must say that it's a small world. Just a couple of weeks ago Jeff and Ingrid attended a fundraising gala at the Museum of Modern Art honoring director Baz Luhrmann, the director of "Australia," starring Nicole Kidman! (I don't know if she was there.) Others there included Elton John, Rupert Murdoch, Jessica Beil, and a bunch more of A-list types. Pics were in the Internet.

I did notice that it seemed about 1/2 the drivers mentioned Jeff in their comments. Not a winner, but he sure looks like a happy camper!

About Tom Cruise--recently Will Smith said that when he goes to an event (like stuff at his son's school), he will 100% not answer any questions. Reporters learn and they don't bother him. Of course that does not stop them from taking his picture.

i heartily second richard in nc's comments about the hard work you do to keep this place enjoyable (altho' i like the use of the word "civilized" in his comment!), jd: it may be the price of doing business but it's exhausting! thanks for caring enough about TDP to resist just throwing your hands in the air and saying . . . well, whatever i might say in this circumstance, i'm pretty certain you'd have to delete!

as for my comment in re: the "live" lie: you suggest we contact espn at the email addresses you provided but i've never received a response from that. this time, i filed a complaint with the ombudsman listed on the home page: we'll see what happens.

interestingly, poole's most recent blog reflects the thinking here that to continue to label it as a live broadcast was a lie and dishonest. but, at least as of this afternoon, that opinion was in the minority. then again, poole's readers aren't focused on the media aspect of nascar so it's somewhat understandable that they don't perceive it as a problem or see the pattern.

(just skipped over there to take the temperature now: liked the "Please feel free to link directly to my site when you use my content" comment, jd! i thought about adding a comment about that "coincidence" there but felt it might be out of line coming from a fan. what's the etiquette here anyway? i'm confused.)

bottom line: i had a great time with my e-pals here last night and i was actually glad i don't have espn classic b/c then, i likely would have watched that hot mess! espn should be castigated, ridiculed and mocked incessantly at least thru the off-season for the fraud and lie they attempted last night.

I thought the whole mess was lame. There was so much wrong with the entire show, but what was the worst for me was the sound.You would think the size of the production company BSPN is that you would be provided with a quality sound produced show.The house band, that plays the intro to the speakers and throws to commercials, sounds like they're in a closest in the back of the room. They should have been mic'd into the main sound board. Instead, we got what sounded like a couple of microphones in the upper decks on each side of the room for sound.It sounded more like a home movie at a high school production to me. And that womans voice! Yuk!

Well, I'm going through the banquet pictures on Getty Images since I couldn't bear to watch. But the banquet is the best place to get relationship updates LOL.

Our Fearless Leader BZ France is on the yellow carpet with a new woman! A woman by the name of Amy (that's what the caption says). Dark, pretty, looks like a slightly older Ingrid Gordon. Holding hands and everything. What happened to Brian's wife, who I believe just had twins within the last couple of years or so? No wonder he's been distracted.

Chad Knaus announced his engagement this year, yet he's at the banquet with a totally different woman, captioned in earlier pictures from this week as his "girlfriend." What happened there? Maybe Chad told the fiancee they had exactly one day for a wedding/honeymoon because he had to get back to the 48 car, LOL.

Kim Burton had the prettiest dress (incredible color),though Chandra looked lovely in her (sadly)over-the-top dress. (Mrs. Hendrick's dress was over the top, but she has the gravitas to pull it off.)Ingrid and Chandra both need to lay off the self-tanner, though. Kyle Busch's girlfriend cracks me up - she poses for the camera with this pout, exactly like she's Paris Hilton.

Well in 1999 The History Channel replayed the entire happenings on the very day of the earthquake. (I td'ed it) The show was taped news footage that had "LIVE" all over it. Live 10 years later that is.

Wouldn't you know it but the phone in Master Control rang all day asking if there was an earthquake going on. DAAAA, like History Channel would be the ONLY network showing a live earthquake.

So maybe, just maybe ESPN might think we all know it is live because the bug on the tv screen says so.

Boring with a capital B best describes the Cup banquet. This show needs a complete overhaul, perhaps doing something akin to how they handled the Nationwide banquet.

I was listening to the guys on Sirius debating the need for the banquet when a caller said he thought the banquet was going to be moved to Las Vegas. He was told in no uncertain terms that Brian France doesn't want that to happen because Nascar needs the NY media exposure. What planet is France living on? There is less and less media exposure for this event every year. Then it was discussed if some kind of fan participation would salvage the event. All the talking heads emphatically said no way. The banquet should never be a fan-centric event, and should be kept only for the teams. Their only concession was to move the banquet to Charlotte.

But, I think the banquet has outlived it's purpose. It doesn't seem as if the drivers care to be there, and it actually seems to be held only to be a commercial thank you to sponsors.

Well, I enjoyed reading all your comments. Did not watch. Last year was sooooo bad and I didn't hear anything about this year to tell me anything changed. And apparently nothing did. What an insult to the fans. Why waste their time and money.

Only sorry I missed Cale.

Counting down to mid January when we load up the motorhome and head for Daytona.

While I always look forward to the Banquet,I actually dozed off a few times. It started with a surprise when Chad walked on stage with a woman who obviously wasn't Bruna. Then Costner made a fool of himself when he didn't know enough about Nascar to know that Earnhardt wasn't the "Terminator". Costner and the King wasted almost an hour with all the preliminary small talk punctuated by the silly woman announcer's voice. I, and the crowd enjoyed the comedian,John Pinette.Burton and Johnson's speeches were very good. Gordon was 'off' and Hamlin was a disappointment. I loved the camera shots of Darby looking totally bored and folks yawning. I thought the track highlights for each driver were very poor and didn't capture the best moments for each driver. I was surprised that Punch was actually pretty good. ESPN continues to be a major disappointment.

Just a follow on to my whining about BSPN, (great new acronym BTW), Classic. If I had realized it was also on BSPN 360, and that apparently I can see it, (local group called nTelos is my ISP), I could have watched the show. However, they required that I download Adobe Flash Player 10, so I opted to not upgrade my bloated Flash Player 9 to an even more bloated version 10.

However, at least I learned I can access it if I choose to. Interestingly, when looking at the requirements BSPN posts for viewing the videos, they still list Version 8 as the needed player. Seems their ineptness isn't confined to their broadcasting!

I did look to see if the Banquet was still available on their Replay, but it isn't. Too bad. I would like to have seen the Cale and Hendricks pieces. I am not a viewer of YouTube, (would suck up way too much time if I started going to that site!), but I will check it to see if that shows up there.

I missed all the kiddie troll stuff yesterday. Thanks again JD for all you do for us out in the hinterlands!

For those who wanted to see the speeches of the drivers, you can see them on nascar.com. I think you'll get a different perspective.

I thought the drivers did a pretty good job. A few had a bit of hard time with the teleprompter, but so what? They aren't going for an academy award. They aren't actors/public speakers. Most are not used to formal public speaking in front of a crowd of about 400 or so people. They are there to be acknowledged and thank their support group and that's it. Please, give them a break. Even with all that, most of the drivers got in one-liners.

As far as the program, it sure looked like they were laughing and enjoying the show.

I enjoy this site, but there sure are a lot of unhappy negative folks writing in about the banquet. That's okay, it's just an obeservation. Another thing that is not factual is that drivers do not like to go there. Marty Smith who is there, has written about drivers loving NYC and their time there.

It's like going to a wedding or a party and not liking how the host put it together--guess what? It's not about you. It would sure be nice to just be happy for those who are being cheered.

As far as the "live" issue. I think networks will always do things until they get caught and the public cries out. I remember when a well-respected reporter (Cokie Roberts), gave her report standing in front of the White House or something like that, and then it came out that she was really in the studio posing in front of a picture. Well, ABC doesn't do that any more.(I think). I'm glad to see TDP helping get the outrage out to the public.

Wow JD it must have been a mess yesterday even my post is gone so I'll try to remember what I said.First off I liked the banquet in general but then JJ is my driver so I am biased. Matchbox20 was enjoyable the bumper music not so much sort of dirge like. Comedian funny, not about Nascar but funny amd people seemed to be laughing this year. Speeches, what can you say about speeches for guys who make left turns all day. Rick and Jeff Burton were the best. Jimmie's was enjoyable especially because he was so floored about Cale and loved Cale for busting on him. Kyle was pretty funny. Camera work was too jumpy, the guy is making a 2-3 minute speech you can't keep the camera on him, show the people in the seats some other time didn't they ever watch any other awards shows. Video clips during speeches are a definate no no especially with the sound from the clip ovewhelming the guy talking. Then there was that whole LIVE thing, just anouth way for BSPN to tell us they think we are stupid. HELLO I am not stupid or ill informed, get a clue will you. Best part of the banquet the blogging with all my cyber friends, I am having trouble deciding if I am missing the racing or live posting more. Thanks JD

The camera showing people in the audience whle someone is speaking, was not invented by ESPN. It is used in the industry no matter what network is showing the program. Whenever you see the Grammys, the Oscars,the Tonys, the Emmys, the CMA, the ESPYs, the State of the Union Address, etc., they show the person who the speaker is talking about or related in some way to the speaker. I'm glad when they do it. Sometimes I like to see what their wife/girlfriend is wearing. Sometimes I don't know what their crew member looks like, sometimes I want to see if the person is laughing, sometimes I don't know their full name, sometimes I don't know how to spell it, etc.

When Tony came out with a Hans device, it was great to see if Helton was laughing. When Kyle forgot his gilrfriend's name, it was funny to see her reaction (poor girl). When Jeff toasted Dale Sr with a glass of milk, it was great to see Sr toast him back with champagne, when Tony threw a dig at Regan Smith, it was great to see if Smith was laughing, when the 2 Jeffs and others talked about their wives, it was nice to see their smiles and the love and pride in their faces, when Cale mentioned if Rick had room for a 70 year-old driver, it was nice to see Rick give him the thumbs up. Many of these are special moments.

There is another benefit of the camera not staying on the driver the whole time he is speaking. Some of the drivers are not natural-born public speakers. While the are used to the pit reporters, or speaking to a small group, most are not used to speaking in a formal setting in front of 400 or so people as it is being filmed and going on tv.

It was painful to watch Greg Biffle hesitating and waiting for the prompter to move along. He started out great telling JJ he did not want him to keep up the good work, but then it fell apart. It was the same with Clint Boyer.

And then there was Carl Edwards. As he comes up, he's got these huge 8 1/2X 11 pieces of paper! Who knows why he chose not to use the propmter, maybe he has trouble reading it, maybe he did not finish his speech in time to have it downloaded, maybe he thought he knew his speech well enough, who knows?

Anyway, he's shuffleing these papers and turning them, and having to look down to find his place, and maybe the font was too small and too dark over the podium, anyway, it looks like he abandons it at some point. Looks like he is nervous. Seems like he uses the word "cool" about 25 times. That is usually stems from lack of preparation or nervousness. I say thank goodness the camera is not always on the guys.

Having said all the above, I think the drivers were great. I have my favorites, but I truly like them all. I think each one brings something special to racing. They all did their best. I could see a sense of pride in the owners and wives are their guy is speaking. It's priceless.

Good points above. Sometimes we get carried away by human nature, having nothing better to do than bash something and nit picking.

It's good that our sport is on TV, period. Let's never forget that. In the beginning of the year, I was associated with a media outlet who thought we should try and quit pointing out the negative and try and point out the good things. It didn't last long, but the premise was there.

But some of the things we do slam are things that we sometimes wish a network would fix after weeks, months or years of feedback.

Camera work in a race, or in an awards ceremony can help or hinder.

If panning the audience on the person on question occurred, no problem... but when we get to see attendees doing other things, not really all there can be entertaining or distracting.

It's our nature and we can't help it. Heck, if NASCAR wasn't on the airwaves would definitely give us something to nitpick, wouldn't it?

I must admit the ad libs, Cale presenting the ring to Jimmie, and Carl's paper are different. I think NASCAR should seriously consider making it annual where a retired driver should present the ring to the new champion.

Tom Cruise also has roots with Hendrick; Days of Thunder utilised Hendrick equipment and next year marks 20 years since the late Bobby Hamilton Sr drove a Hendrick-prepared movie car to a great qualifying run at the Phoenix race. When Kyle Busch was racing for Hendrick, he paid tribute to Hamilton with the "Rowdy" designation on the roof, the design similar to the #51 Hamilton drove, and other small things, something Busch has continued to this day.

But I think that announcer voice was wrong -- and inappropriate. The way it was done in the past was much classier as the announcer discussed what they had done in the season.

Whoever was in the truck will be fined for forgetting #07. (But there is an issue with the licence of the #07 design; it was an issue on the EA Sports NASCAR games.) Kevin Harvick will also be fined for bleeping on-air.

ESPN fooled me very good, as they say in the boonies. I honestly thought that this was a live program. Oddly, I don't remember the 2007 banquet being billed as "live," so apparently the person in charge of public relations has changed in the past year.

I should point out that I don't have satellite radio service, so I had no way to check that this banq--oops, "awards ceremony"--was indeed on tape delay. I had to take ESPN at its word. Bummer.

Now to the show itself:

*It was a boring parade of speeches, a far cry from the informal gatherings of the Nationwide and truck series. Except for Jeff Burton's delivery and some jokes from Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards, there was nothing that stood out.

*Cale Yarborough's presentation to Jimmie Johnson was classy.

*John Pinette was funny, especially in the second segment. Unfortunately, he also used the synonym for "female dog" in one of the jokes. Too bad.

The comedian was awesome, even more so in the second segment, about time nascar finally got someone who was actually funny.

I thought Chani looked beautiful, it amazes me how she made dresses like that work.

I thought Cale suprising Jimmie was the highlight of the night. That was awesome, and the look on Jimmie's face was priceless.

As for Chad....Chad never himself said he was engaged to Bruna. Anyways, engaged or not, he called it off. He wasn't ready to get married and have a family....yet anyways. She apparently didn't want to wait he did.